Skillveri Pvt. Ltd. has raised an investment of INR 8 crores from the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, together with Ankur Capital. Pioneers behind the first welding simulator made in India, Skillveri will leverage this investment to enable training of 500,000 youth for well-paying aspirational manufacturing jobs over the next five years. It also expects to expand from its current manufacturing focus to four new industries and six geographies in the future.

Founded by Sabarinath Nair and L. Kannan in 2012 to address India’s skills gap, Skillveri was incubated at the Rural Technology Business Incubator (RTBI) in IIT Madras. Apart from the founders, Mr C Sivakumar and Ms Rema Subramanian are Directors of the company. Today, it has the most widely installed simulator in the welding domain that trains low-income youth with high-quality manufacturing skills. This is the only indigenous simulator and stands out as the most affordable product in the market. It is currently available at half the price offered by it its nearest competitor.

With the government’s “Make in India” program expected to create 90 million new manufacturing jobs in 10 years, a well-trained workforce is crucial for its success. Skillveri addresses this by using cutting-edge technology to meet the challenges of quality and scale. The company’s training solutions reduce the need for expensive equipment and raw-material needed to train aspirants in hands-on skills, while providing learners with industry-ready curriculum and inbuilt testing tools.

Sabarinath Nair, Founder & CEO, Skillveri said, “This investment will enable Skillveri to expand its presence into new geographies as well as foray into multiple new skill domains, such as painting, paramedical procedures, jewelry making, where manual dexterity is highly valued. Our unique ‘psycho-physics’ driven approach enables us to develop targeted products across domains through digital dexterity mapping.”

Rahil Rangwala, Director, Family Economic Stability at Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, said, “Manufacturing contributes 25% (and growing) to India’s GDP. For the skilled youth of today, jobs in manufacturing also represent higher earning potential than retail or service sector jobs. Skillveri simulators provide access to high quality training, giving youth a head start to well-paying jobs and meaningful careers. The shared values and mission is what attracted us to Skillveri and we are excited to join them on their journey of transforming manufacturing skill training in the country.”

Rema Subramanian, Partner, Ankur Capital, said, “Skill shortage is a global challenge and we strongly believe in the potential of Skillveri’s technology to address the same. With our seed investment in 2015, Skillveri has not only launched a range of cutting-edge simulators, but also received validation from various customer segments, across both industry and academia. Our participation in follow-on funding along with Michael & Susan Dell Foundation in their Series A fund raise is a reflection of our confidence in Skillveri’s global potential.”

About Skillveri Training Solutions Pvt. Ltd.

Skillveri enables better quality delivery of practical vocational skill training at significantly lesser costs through its innovative, scalable platform of multi-skill simulators. After establishing market leadership with a range of welding-training products, a slew of new offerings is in the pipeline—spray painting, gold-jewelry soldering, medical skills, etc. The company recently graduated from IIT Madras’ Rural Technology and Business Incubator (RTBI).

About Ankur Capital

Ankur Capital is a SEBI registered early stage venture capital fund and supports companies that are solving important problems for India, supporting the growth and development of the country and improving the quality of lives across income segments. Ankur Capital has invested in 7 companies across education, agriculture, and healthcare, at the intersection of technology and business model innovation.